Summer Internships 2023

Project Title

Carbon Capture

Description

Direct air capture of carbon dioxide is thought to be increasingly important in mitigating climate change. This project will explore the synthesis and testing of new low-cost carbon-based materials for direct air capture. In particular, we are targeting materials that can be rapidly regenerated using renewable electricity. Students will gain skills in electrochemistry, gas adsorption measurements, and materials synthesis.

Desirable skills/knowledge/experience

Students from Natural Sciences, and Engineering would be most suited to this project.

Prior experience of experimental laboratory work is helpful.

Project Title

Exploring the ethics of geoengineering

Description

Manually intervening in earth’s natural system for climate repair remains a controversial topic across the public and among various stakeholder groups in large part because of concerns over the ethics of possible planetary-scale interventions. Indeed, some climate advocates argue that not just deployment but even research into the topic should not proceed arising out of worries that the mere possibility of geoengineering will undermine mitigation efforts (a concern often heard over carbon dioxide removal in general, but which is particularly prominent in the geoengineering debates). 

In particular, this project will explore the ethics of geoengineering/climate repair by learning from the long history of how ethics has influenced both research and large-scale deployment in other fields and apply those lessons to the case of geoengineering and climate repair.  A particularly rich source of evidence can be found in the long history of bioethics and medical ethics on specific topics such as stem cell research, gene therapy, cloning and in-vitro fertilisation.  We observe that the involvement of ethicists and the impact of ethics on scientific research and wider deployment have shifted over the course of many decades and have evolved differently from one jurisdiction to the next depending on socio-political context.  Another more recent case is the development of artificial intelligence (AI) where sometimes similar concerns arise over consent and equitable access but where we also see early examples that point to the potential for reinforcing or exacerbating existing biases around gender, race, class, nationality, etc.

Desirable skills/knowledge/experience

Students with social science or humanities backgrounds (including, but not limited to HSPS, HPS, TRPR, History, Law, Philosophy) are encouraged to apply, although we will consider those in STEM subjects or other disciplines with a strong interest and background in ethics.

Project Title

Ice Thickening

Description

The Arctic is melting fast. The Centre for Climate Repair (CCRC) is looking at technologies that might slow down or reverse this melting. One idea is to spray seawater onto existing ice during the cold winter thereby thickening it so that it will last through the Arctic summer. A fourth-year engineering student has developed ice-thickening experiments and has made interesting measurements with water flowing in a channel inside a freezer at -18^oC­, and work is now underway to undertake experiments with a radial geometry. However, there is a need for mathematical models to enable the measurements to be properly interpreted, and for further experiments to examine the behaviour of time-varying flow rates. 

This project is ideally suited to an applied mathematician or engineer who is comfortable with partial differential equations and numerical methods, and who is eager to undertake laboratory experiments. The balance between heat transfer, sensible heat and latent heat in flowing water is formulated in terms of distance and time. As if this isn’t complicated enough, salt water as it freezes develops a salt-concentration gradient which needs to be included. If we have a good model, then we can use it to design methodologies for creating ice in the Arctic.

Desirable skills/knowledge/experience

Students from Mathematics, Natural Sciences, and Engineering (including M.Math, and Part III) would be most suited to this project.

Comfort with partial differential equations and numerical modelling is essential.  Knowledge of Matlab and/or Python is needed.

Project Title

Marine Cloud Brightening

Description

Marine Cloud Brightening (MCB) is a potential technology which could help to cool the Arctic. It is known that white fluffy clouds reflect sunlight away from the Earth, but there have been a very limited number of trials of MCB.  Some field scale experiments have taken place over the Great Barrier Reef to try and protect the coral.

This project will build on a previous internship as well as work currently being undertaken by fourth year engineering students. The challenge  is to identify the next steps which must be addressed in order to progress to field trials. The Centre for Climate Repair has good relationships with many MCB experts whose views need to be sought.  It will be necessary to update the literature review undertaken in summer 2021.  You will need to assess the technical barriers for MCB and learn what steps may be required which may include: energy sources; engagement of communities.

Desirable skills/knowledge/experience

Students from engineering, applied mathematics, physical sciences and geography are best suited to this project.

This project may provide an opportunity for continuation into a 4^th year project; for example in modelling of marine cloud brightening or the design of spray delivery mechanisms for the narrow range of droplet sizes which are deemed necessary.

Project Title

Atmospheric Methane Removal: Electrochemical Methane Oxidation

Description

This project will examine processes for the oxidation of atmospheric concentrations (~2 ppm) of methane in efficient processes, suitable for large-scale methane removal. To ensure that effective strategies for methane removal or conversion are feasible, the fundamental kinetics must be better understood. Electrochemical processes, whereby the activation energy for the reaction is provided by a supplied electrical power (e.g. from solar cells) may offer the opportunity to achieve large-scale methane conversion with low energy consumption. This project will measure the onset of methane oxidation over electrochemical catalysts at various voltages to determine activation energies for the elementary steps within the kinetic pathway from CH4 to CO2. This work will determine the minimum energy requirements for methane oxidation and allow for large-scale conversion systems to be devised that fit within existing building ventilation systems or compressed air energy storage units.

Desirable skills/knowledge/experience

Students from Mathematics, Natural Sciences, and Engineering (including M.Math, and Part III) would be most suited to this project.

Prior experience of experimental laboratory work is helpful.

Project Title

Sea Curtains

Description

The toes of glaciers are melting at an increasing rate as a result of the ingress of warmer but dense salty water towards the glacier. A circulation current develops as the glacier melts which generates cold, fresh water which is less dense than the underlying warm salty water.

Glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica are undergoing faster melting, and as a result of the loss of ice at the toe, the glaciers may descend towards the sea more quickly. This will in turn result in loss of land-based ice and concomitant sea level rise.

One of the potential ideas to slow down the rate of melting of glaciers is to construct a barrier mounted on the sea floor near the mouth of a glacier. The concept is that the barrier would impede the movement of warm salty water towards the glacier. There are a number of issues which need to be understood further in order to assess the potential viability and effectiveness of a scheme. These include: the potential impact of a structure on the rate of melting; the pros and cons of different design options such as concrete walls or flexible fabric combined with buoys; the impact of the structure on marine life and impact of marine life on the structure.

This project is ideally suited to an applied mathematician or engineer who is comfortable with undertaking calculations on the flows arising from gravity currents, as well as Coriolis forces for wide glaciers, and the resulting stresses which materials need to withstand. There may be the opportunity to undertake some laboratory experiments in order to explore the different patterns and to observe the effects of different structures. These experiments would be undertaken in the Seawater lab and would examine the impact of different permeabilities of material for sea curtains.

Desirable skills/knowledge/experience

Students from Mathematics, Natural Sciences, and Engineering (including M.Math, and Part III) would be most suited to this project.

Comfort with analytical modelling is essential.  Knowledge of Matlab and/or Python is desirable, as is prior experimental work.

Project Title

Protection of Arctic Ice under International Law

Description

The Central Arctic Ocean (CAO) ice pack is a vital global climate regulator due to its reflective properties and is under threat due to direct and indirect greenhouse effects. Extreme weather events such as recent heat domes over Europe and North America are directly linked to loss of this reflective polar ice.

This project takes stock of the protections afforded by international law with a view to mobilising international action to prevent further damage caused by harmful activities in the CAO, particularly shipping over the pole and mineral exploration and extraction under the ice. These commercial activities are becoming technically and economically feasible for the first time in history.

Accordingly, the Law of the Sea Convention lacks provisions to protect polar ice which was taken for granted at the time of drafting. Instead, it empowers States to engage in these two activities that, if carried out in the CAO, will increase the frequency, intensity and range of extreme weather events.

There is therefore an urgent need to identify international rules and norms, especially of a peremptory nature, that are robust enough to limit or qualify entitlements accorded by the Convention to States and by extension, to private parties.

Key output will be a written report detailing three of the most viable legal approaches to protect Arctic ice assessing their prospects and if time permits, an online database of principal sources.

Desirable skills/knowledge/experience

Students with an interest in climate change law, international law, and environmental law would find this a fascinating project.

Project Title

Curriculum Development for Climate Repair

Description

The aim of this internship project is to create a curriculum of bibliographical resources for climate repair and its wider context. Currently no such resource is known to exist.  Discussions about climate repair frequently involve students and public policy researchers with very little background knowledge about this subject, so little in fact, that it is often assumed wrongly that climate repair is a hypothetical subject for the future. Hence, this project seeks to develop a simple curriculum to meet this need.  The focus of the curriculum would span  public policy development, climate policy, economics, ethics, and public engagement. The project will also include research on applicable consultation procedures with indigenous or local peoples potentially impacted by climate repair.

The project entails three phases: i) establish a framework structure of sub-topics ii) carry out extensive bibliographical research to create a database iii) populate modules corresponding to the sub-topics and iv) preparing some guidance for prospective users.  The curriculum development could for example be incorporated into a Part 2 paper across a range of different subjects; or it could be used to inform seminars hosted by the Centre for Climate Repair or other organisations.  The intention is that this be hosted by the Centre for Climate Repair on an open access basis.

The project would seek to draw on library expertise and resources in the University Library system, particularly the Department of Geography, the Scott Polar Research Institute, the Department of Engineering, and the Centre for Climate Repair.

Desirable skills/knowledge/experience

Students with an interest in climate policy, policy development, education, ethics, economics and public engagement would find this a fascinating project.